Susan Miller and Jorge L. Ortiz,
Tue, April 16, 2024
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators demanding a cease-fire in Gaza blocked bridge traffic in San Francisco and New York and prompted some air travelers in Chicago to ditch their rides and reach the airport on foot as coordinated protests caused disruptions across several cities in the U.S. and internationally Monday
The organizing A15 Action group said on its website that the "the global economy is complicit in genocide and together we will coordinate to disrupt and blockade economic logistical hubs and the flow of capital.''
That meant shutting down the Golden Gate Bridge during the morning commute, snarling traffic into and out of San Francisco for hours. A group carrying a banner that read “Stop the world for Gaza” was eventually cleared off. Across the bay in Oakland, protesters forced the closure of two sections of Interstate 880, using weighted barrels to block the road.
In New York, hundreds of demonstrators halted afternoon traffic by clogging the Brooklyn Bridge, bringing on a large police response. And in Chicago, the highway that goes into O'Hare Airport was jammed by a protest, leading several passengers to walk to the terminal with their luggage.
“I support the idea that people should express their First Amendment rights and protest if they would like to,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement. “I do not think that they should be disruptive of the traffic of people trying to get from one place to another.''
Road blockages from protests were also reported in Philadelphia, San Antonio, Texas, and Eugene, Oregon − where 52 demonstrators were arrested − in addition to Ottawa, Canada.
Protesters in Oregon are arrested as they block the southbound lane of Interstate 5 between Eugene and Springfield on Monday, April 15, 2024.
The Recount
Mon, April 15, 2024
Pro-Palestinian protesters on Monday shut down the Golden Gate Bridge as part of nationwide Tax Day protests in solidarity with Gaza.
Both directions of the Golden Gate Bridge were shut down due to the protest. This is the second protest causing major backups in the Bay Area, hours after a similar protest closed all lanes on I-880 in Oakland when protesters brought barrels onto the highway and chained themselves to them.
Organizers said the demonstrations were part of A15, a global campaign calling on United States officials to stop supplying arms to Israel and to stop using U.S. tax dollars to fund Israel's operations in Gaza. Monday is the tax deadline for most Americans.
Similar protests blocked traffic in other major cities Monday morning, including in Chicago at O'Hare Airport.
The protest comes amid international pressure on Israel over its military operation in Gaza and on the heels of Iran launching strikes on Israel over the weekend.
Protesters, vehicles block traffic at
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport;
46 arrested
Tue, April 16, 2024
Protesters were blocking traffic into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Monday afternoon.
The Port of Seattle said 46 people were arrested.
At about 3 p.m., WSDOT cameras saw several vehicles blocking the Arrivals expressway leading into the airport.
By 4 p.m., Port of Seattle police had towed several of the protesters’ vehicles and were detaining protesters.
By 4:35 p.m., travelers caught in the backup were turning around and heading out from behind the protest as the Port of Seattle police continued to detain protesters.
On WSDOT cameras, protesters were seen in zip-ties being led away from the area.
The remaining protesters appeared to be in a “sleeping dragon,” where PVC pipe and restraints were used to “tie” protesters together until officers moved them as groups to the side of the road.
Travelers are urged to use alternate routes or take the Light Rail train or public transit.
By 5:25 p.m., protesters and their vehicles were removed from the roadway.
On the WSDOT cameras, it appeared travelers with their luggage were walking past the protest to get to their flights.
Gaza Protest Blocks Traffic at Chicago's
O'Hare Airport
Mon, April 15, 2024
At least one travelers swore at pro-Palestinian protesters blocking the Kennedy Expressway to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Monday, April 15, footage shows.
Footage recorded by Chicago Dissenters shows travelers dragging their luggage up a grassy bank and walking down the blocked road as protesters chant “Free Palestine.”
Police were on the scene to help clear traffic, after demonstrators blocked several lanes of Interstate 190/Kennedy Expressway leading to O’Hare Airport, traffic monitor Total Traffic reported.
O’Hare warned travelers that vehicular traffic along I-190 to the airport may be “substantially delayed” and urged them to consider alternative routes.
Chicago Dissenters said the purpose of the protests was: “Disrupt Boeing’s operations” and “Demand an end to the US government’s arming of the Israeli regime”. Credit: Chicago Dissenters via Storyful
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHATTER]
- Free, free Palestine!
- Free, free Palestine!
- Free, free, free Palestine!
- Free--
[HONKING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Free, free Palestine.
- Free, free, free Palestine!
- Free, free, free Palestine!
[CHATTER]
Free, free Palestine!
- Free, free Palestine!
- Free, free, free Palestine!
- Free--
[HONKING]
Free, free Palestine!
- Free, free, free Palestine!
- Free, free, free Palestine!
[CHATTER]
Free, free Palestine!
- Free, free Palestine!
- Free, free, free Palestine!
- Free--
[HONKING]
What will happen to protesters who were
arrested in the Bay Area?
Mon, April 15, 2024
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza took over several highways in the Bay Area on Monday.
The protests come five months after protesters blocked off the Bay Bridge. Eighty people were charged for those protests, 78 of whom made a deal with prosecutors to do five hours of community service and pay more than $4,000 in restitution to avoid criminal charges.
So what will happen to Monday’s protesters?
Protest outside Tesla factory in Fremont, demonstrators hit with pepper balls
Many will have to fight misdemeanors and citations in court, but some could even be charged with a felony. KRON4 spoke with a former prosecutor who says these charges make it seem like CHP is cracking down on protests like these hard.
“I implore people, please protest, we are here to protect your right to protest. But you cannot block roadways. You cannot keep emergency personnel whether it’s ambulance, law enforcement, fire department from getting out to assist other people,” said CHP Chief Don Goodbrand.
Hundreds of people disrupted traffic for hours at three different locations in the Bay Area on Monday. Twenty-six people got arrested after blocking all lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge. Seven people got arrested on I-880 in Oakland after a group locked their arms into 280-pound concrete barrels in the middle of traffic lanes. At the 7th Street exit of I-880, hundreds of protesters walked onto the freeway, and five people got arrested there.
CHP says the protesters now face a slew of charges, the most serious being conspiracy to commit a crime and false imprisonment. That surprised legal expert Steven Clark.
“The CHP is obviously taking this very seriously,” he said. “With these arrests suggesting conspiracy that could elevate these charges to a felony.”
Clark says the conspiracy charge could be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony.
“I think what the CHP did today was give the DA’s office a lot to work with in terms of a charging decision. It’ll ultimately be up to the DA to make this charging decision,” he said.
The protesters on the Golden Gate Bridge will be prosecuted by the San Francisco district attorney, and the protesters in the East Bay will be prosecuted by the Alameda County district attorney. Clark says it might be hard to prove the false imprisonment charges.
“Certainly you can argue that protesters by shutting down access on the bridge, you are imprisoning the drivers. At the same time, those drivers could have got out of the car and left. I’m not sure that imprisonment charge would hold up in trial,” he said.
Clark says this will overall be a challenge in court when the defense argues for protesters’ First Amendment rights.
“I think it’ll be a difficult call for the DA on how to handle these cases because this is a progressive community. We do respect the right of free speech but at the same time we don’t want to see public safety jeopardized,” Clark said.
KRON4 reached out to both the district attorneys in Alameda County and San Francisco, and it’s too soon to say what charges they will pursue. Clark believes they will look to see if any of the protesters arrested today were involved in the protest that shut down the Bay Bridge five months ago during the APEC conference. He says that could enhance charges.
Sleeping dragon technique revealed: Bay Area protesters try to block arrests
Amanda Quintana
Tue, April 16, 2024
OAKLAND, Calif. - The California Highway Patrol released video of how they worked to remove protesters from blocking highways and bridges on Monday – several of the protesters stuck their hands into pipes, secured by concrete in barrel drums to stymy officers from removing them.
The video shows a man's hand pushed through a pipe and held down with concrete inside a 55-gallon drum. An officer is seen unscrewing a screw to try to pull out the man's hand. The officer yells "Let go! Let go of the bar!" several times and the man is heard screaming "Ow, ow, ow! The rebar is cutting me. Stop! Stop!"
Eventually, the man was released from the barrel and taken into custody.
This is a form of the "sleeping dragon" maneuver used by protesters to hinder their removal from a site. The traditional sleeping dragon is when a series of protesters handcuff themselves together through PVC pipe, which prevents police from simply using bolt cutters to break the handcuffs.
The man was one of nearly 40 pro-Palestinian protesters on I-880 and the Golden Gate Bridge who were arrested by CHP officers on Monday, after they blocked traffic for hours during the morning commute.
On the Golden Gate Bridge, protesters used their cars, with chains concealed with pipes, to connect themselves to each other. It took more than four hours to clear and 26 people were arrested there.
Then on southbound 880 there were about 300 protesters and five of them were arrested after taking five hours to clear all the lanes. Another protest on northbound 880, where protesters were attached to the barrel drums, took seven hours to clear.
On Monday evening, there was also a protest at the Fremont Tesla plant, where officers deployed pepper balls on the crowd. No one was arrested at this protest, Fremont police said.
The California Highway Patrol released all the various charges they will be recommending to prosecutors, including unlawful assembly, refusal to comply with a lawful order, resisting, false imprisonment and unlawful to stop on a bridge.
Protesters used the sleeping dragon technique with barrels on April 15, 2024. Photo: CHP
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